FanHouse Jimmie Johnson

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- With two laps to go, pop star Nick Lachey began clapping and cheering on his good friend. The back slaps and handshakes among crew, family and friends started coming like a slow wave picking up speed as Jimmie Johnson slid his Chevy out of the final turn and approached the last checkered flag of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

His father, Gary, stood behind the growing celebration in his son's pit stall at Homestead Miami Speedway -- a huge smile on his face, a sparkling Superman pin attached over the logo of his Hendrick Motorsports cap.

Superman is the nickname bestowed on Johnson, who on Sunday became the first driver in NASCAR's 61-year history to win a fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship.

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson was chasing much more than a championship.

He was also chasing NASCAR history.

The most dominant driver of this decade won a record fourth consecutive championship Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he raced hard to finish fifth when 25th-place would have gotten the job done.

In doing so, Johnson joined Richard Petty (7), Dale Earnhardt (7) and teammate Jeff Gordon (4) as the only drivers to win more than three titles.

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- NASCAR Chairman Brian France held an impromptu news conference Friday at Homestead Miami Speedway, addressing topics from NASCAR's legal battle with driver Jeremy Mayfield, to shortening the schedule, to the Chase for the Championship format and the possibility of Danica Patrick coming to NASCAR.

Generally speaking and considering the poor state of the economy, France said he's pleased with the season although he'd love to have fuller fields of cars carrying more corporate sponsorship and better television ratings. He said the COT is here to stay and he doubts NASCAR will start shortening the lengths of races.

Here are excerpts from France's meeting with reporters.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Two days before he attempts to wrap up a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, Jimmie Johnson has announced a contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports that will keep the champ driving the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet through the 2015 season.

"It's the only car I've ever driven,'' Johnson said with a smile Friday morning. "I'm very proud of that.''

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With Jimmie Johnson becoming the first racer in history to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships on Sunday, FanHouse motorsports writer Holly Cain took a trip to his hometown outside San Diego last week. This is the second of a two-part series looking at the unlikely start for a stock car great.

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With Jimmie Johnson becoming the first racer in history to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships on Sunday, FanHouse motorsports writer Holly Cain took a trip to his hometown outside San Diego last week. This is the first of a two-part series looking at the unlikely start for a stock car great.

EL CAJON, Calif. -- The neighborhood sits just beyond a miniature horse farm, up Crest Mountain in unincorporated El Cajon, where dusty pick-up trucks buzz by impatiently, dirt bikes strapped in their truck beds.

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Jimmie Johnson rebounded from a rare bad race with a dominating victory at Phoenix International Raceway that pushed him to the edge of a NASCAR record fourth consecutive championship.

Johnson led 238 laps Sunday to win for the fourth time in the last five races at Phoenix. It was his seventh victory of the season, and fourth since the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

More important, it stretched his lead to 108 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin heading into the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnson needs to finish 25th or better next week to grab a spot in NASCAR's record books.

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Turns out everyone was a little ahead of themselves.

The wild-card race wasn't last week at Talladega, Ala., but Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. At least as far as NASCAR championship points leader Jimmie Johnson is concerned.

All week the three-time defending Sprint Cup Series champ refused to buy into everyone else's hype that he had a historic fourth consecutive title wrapped up. He cautioned, chastised and -- as it turned out, correctly predicted -- that the 184-point lead over the field he took into Sunday's race wasn't enough to seal the deal.

After being collected in a crash only three laps into the 334-lap Dickies 500, Johnson's nearly one-race points advantage has shrunk to only 73 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin with two races remaining.

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NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series championship got a little more interesting only three laps into Sunday's Dickie's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway when points leader Jimmie Johnson was collected in a crash, his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet suffering major damage.

Johnson was able to continue but lengthy repairs were necessary in the garage resulting in a potentially substantial change in his hefty points lead. Entering the race, Johnson held a 184-point lead over second place Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin, nearly the equivalent of one full race.

To hear Jimmie Johnson describe it, the most challenging part of wrapping up a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship is not getting wrapped up in winning it. No matter how hard everyone else tries to convince him the trophy's been engraved.

He holds a 184-point advantage -- nearly a full race lead -- on second place Mark Martin and only needs to finish 10th place or better in the remaining three Chase for the Championship races to secure the trophy. That's even if Martin wins all three races and leads the most laps in each.

But Johnson insists his approach in the No. 48 Lowe's Chevy will be the same as if he was trailing by 184 points and promised he wasn't about to start being conservative.

"We're showing up to win races,'' Johnson said. "Finishing 10th isn't as easy as it sounds. It is a tough field of cars out there and we need to be on our game. With three to go, we need to race these next two as if we're behind in the points and get every point we can.''